The following relates generally to controlling devices and, more particularly, to a controlling device having an illuminated user interface. Manufacturers of consumer appliances typically provide a remote control with an appliance, as do providers of subscription broadcasting services. Furthermore, consumers may acquire various forms of aftermarket controlling devices for the purpose of, for example, extending control range or functionality, consolidating the operations of multiple manufacturer-supplied remote controls into a single unit, replacing lost or broken remotes, etc. In many of these applications, provision of an illuminated, or luminous, user interface on the controlling device may be desirable to facilitate operation in low light conditions, to convey operational status of the controlling device, for aesthetic reasons, etc. Various methods and techniques have been previously proposed for illumination of controlling devices, such as for example those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,568,367 and 6,777,884 or in pending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 10/922,673 and 11/018,008 all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. As will become apparent hereafter, it is an objective of this invention to provide an alternative and cost-effective method of implementing an illuminated user interface for a controlling device.
Furthermore, to minimize the number of individual remote controls a user requires, universal remote controls have been developed. Accordingly, universal remote controls capable of commanding various functions of multiple types of appliances of various manufacturers have become quite widespread. By way of example, universal remote controls are described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,959,810, 5,255,313 and 5,552,917 all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. For selecting which of multiple appliances a universal remote control is to command, a universal remote control may allow a user to place, i.e., configure or setup, the universal remote control into an operational mode whereby the function keys will be used to transmit commands to a “primary” target appliance that has been associated with that operational mode. For example, a “TV” operational mode may be selected to place the universal remote control into an operational mode whereby function keys are used to transmit commands primarily to a designated television, a “VCR” mode may be selected to place the universal remote control into an operational mode whereby function keys are used to transmit commands primarily to a designated VCR, etc. Accordingly, the ability to indicate current key assignments to a user, as well as the ability to alter the appearance and/or layout of the keypad area, for example to present to the user keys which are applicable to controlling a given appliance, is advantageous in a universal remote control. It is thus a further objective of this invention to provide a cost effective means for implementing a universal remote control with multiple, different user interfaces and/or user interfaces in which color may be used to convey operational status of the controlled or controlling device, key function assignments, etc.